Cooker.



No. 643,650. Patented Feb. 20, |900.

. F. HERDRICH &. E. G. HETU.

C 0 0 K E R.

(Application led Jan. 28, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

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Zzeazra? (No Model.)

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No. 643,650. Patented Feb. 20, |900. W. F. HERDRICH & E. G. HETU.

COUKER.

(Application led Jan. 28, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM F. HERDRIC'H AND ELZEARD G. l-IETU, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COOKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,650, dated. February 20, 1900. Application filed January 28, 1899. Serial No. 703,686. (No model.)

To ct'ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM F. HERDRICH and ELZEARD G. HETU, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cookers, of which the following is a speciication.

The object of our invention is to make a cooker more particularly for use in cooking cereals, although it may be used for cooking meats, if desired, in which means are provided for automatically diminishing or shutting off the supply of heat from time to time, as may be necessary; and our invention consists in the features and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical section of our improved cooker. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of an indicator with the front dial-plate removed, taken in the line 2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a plan section 'of the indicator, taken in the line 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the burner. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional elevation of a detail, taken in the line 5 of Fig. l; and Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of certain valves hereinafter described, showing them in the position and relation that they occupy to the pistons, pinions, racks, and pipes shown in Fig. l.

In making our improved cooker we take a vessel A of the desired size and material. For convenience We have shown it as a single vessel adapted to receive Water and the material to be cooked, although, if desired, it may be a double vessel having an inner vessel suspended in it surrounded by Water, as

-is commonly used for dry cooking'. We are indifferentas to these particular details. The vessel is provided with an opening at its top closed by a lid A, which is provided with a spring a and a screw-threaded rod a', so that when the lid is applied to the cooker it may be fastened and held steam-tight by turning the screw-threaded rod a. This Will be readily understood from an examination of Fig. 1 and need not be further described in detail. We arrange at the top of the vessel tubes B and B', one at each side, in which are arranged pistons b and b', Whose piston-rods b2 and b3 pass up into a screw-threaded cap B2, under Which-is arranged a coiled spring B3.

By screwing the threaded portion of the piston-rods into the cap the position of the pistons up or down can be regulated or set at a desired point. Rising above the cap is a rack b4, Whose teeth engage With a pinion B4, which turns an indicating-needle b5, arranged on the outside of the indicator in connection With a dial-plate B5, so as to indicate at a glance the amount of pressure exerted on the pistons b and b and to show their positions respectively. XVe attach to the upper end of the rod b3 an auxiliary rod b, provided with a depending arm b?, which has a point 68, extending out through a slot in the front plate of the indicator, opposite which is arranged a scale or gage B6. By turning the handle B7,.extending above the top of the ina dicators, We can adjust the position of the piston up or down and indicate its position by means of the auxiliary gage.

Tubes C and C lead from the piston-tubes B and B. One of them, C, is arranged to open into the piston-tube at a higher elevation than the other, C, as will be readily understood from an inspection of Fig. 1. We arrange under the cooker a burner D, which may be an ordinary Bunsen burner or of any other desired kind adapted to be supplied with gas from a supply-pipe cl, leading from a proper source of supply. Valves d and 032 are arranged in the supply-pipe, so as to admit or shut o the supply of gas as they are turned in the one direction or the other. These valves are operated by rods d3 and d4, provided With pinions D' and D2 at their outer ends. The pipes C and C contain pistonheads c and c', Whose piston-rods c2 and c3 extend down and out at the lower ends of the pipes. The piston-rod c2 is provided With a rack engaging the teeth of the pinionD. The piston-rod c3 is made in the form of a tube, as Will be seen from Figs. l and 5, land a rod c4, provided with a rack Whose teeth engage with the pinion D2, extends up into it, as shown in Figs. l and. This rod c4 is provided With a number of holes c5, in which a hook C2, piv- Oted'at C3 on the tubular piston-rod c3, may be inserted, so as to adjust the rod c4 up or down Without disturbing the position of the piston c', as may be desired.

In operating the cooker illustrated in the.

IOO

drawings water is placed in the vessel A, together with the particular materialcereals or meats-which it is desired to cook. The lid is inserted in place and firmly clamped to the top of the vessel by turning the screwt-hreaded rod d so as to bring the spring and the lid into close contact with the top of the vessel. The piston-rod c2 is moved up by the hand, so that the pinion D' is turned and the valve d opened, which admits a su pply of gas. The rod C4 is also moved up by hand, which causes the pinion D2 to be rotated and the valve d2 to be opened and admit a further supply of gas. lVhen these two valves are open, the full supply of gas is on. As the water in the vessel becomes heated steam is generated and pressure applied to the pistons l) and Z7', which causes them to begin to rise, which fact is shown on the dial-plates of the indicators. The force required to move the pistons b and 1) up may be regulated by the coiled spring B3, which can be set at the desired tension, which spring serves to return the pistons to their initial positions when the force ot the steam is removed. When suilicient pressure has been generated in the vessel A to overcome the pressure of the spring B3, the pistons l) and b' will gradually move up until the piston b has passed the opening into the pipe C', which permits the steam to pass down such pipe and exert its pressure on the piston c. This lnoves the piston down and with it the rod c4, whose teeth engage with the pinion D2. This causes the pinion D2 to rotate, upon which the valve d2 begins to close, so as to diminish the supply of gas to the burner.

By reference to the drawings it will be seen that the valves d and cl2 are arranged at unequal distances from the valve-seats d5 and d, the valve d' being fart-her from its valveseat than the valve d2. The valve d2 when in its in or closed position is not intended to fully close the port or opening d, as will be seen by the dotted lines in the drawings, showing such valve in its advanced position. From this construction it follows that when the piston c' is moved down and the rotation continued the valve cl2 is entirely closed or moved to its in position, so that the supply of gas is diminished to the extent that it closes the port or opening d6. If the pressure within the vessel is suflicient, the valve l) is moved up until it passes the opening in the pipe C, when the steam will pass down such pipe and exert its pressure on the piston c and force it down, thus causing the pinion D/ to be rorated and the valve d to be gradually closed. If the pressure be suiiicient, it will cause sufficient rotation of the pinion D to entirely close the valve d' and shut off the supply of gas entirely, upon which the fire will become extinguished.

lVhat we regard as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination of a vessel for containing material to be cooked, a burner for supplying heat to the vessel, a tube opening into the top of the vessel, a second tube also opening into the top of the vessel, a piston for each tube, an opening in each tube, of which one is in a higher plane than the other, controlled by the pistons, a pipe leading from each opening downward, a piston in each tube, and means actuated by said pistons for controlling the supply of gas to the burner proportioned to the pressure generated in the vessel, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a vessel for containing material to be cooked, a burner for supplying heat to the vessel, a tube opening into the top of the vessel, a second tube also opening into the top of the vessel, a piston for each tube, means for adjusting the travel of each piston, an opening in each tube, of which one is in a higher plane than the other, controlled by the pistons, a pipe leading from each opening downward, a piston for each down wardly-extending pipe, a stem or rod for each such piston, and means actuated by the stems or rods for controlling the supply of gas to the burner proportioned to the pressure generated in the vessel, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a vessel for containing material to be cooked, a tube opening into the top of the vessel, a second tube also opening into the top of the vessel, a piston for each tube, means for adjusting the position of each such piston, an opening in each tube, of which one is in a higher plane than the other, controlled by the pistons, a pipe leading from each opening downward, a piston for each downwardly-extending pipe, a stem or rod for each such piston, a burner below the cooking vessel, an upper and lower valve supplying gas to the burner, and means connecting the valves with the piston rods or stems for diminishing the supply of gas to the burner proportioned to the pressure generated in the cooking vessel, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a vessel for containing material to be cooked, a tube opening into the top of the vessel, a second tube also opening into the top of the vessel, a piston for each tube, means for adjusting the position of each piston, an opening in each tube, of which one is in a higher plane than the other,- controlled by the pistons, a pipe leading from each opening downward, apisten in each pipe, a stem or rod foreach such piston, a rack on one rod, a rod having a rack being vertically adjustable on the other piston stem or rod, a burner belewthe cooking vessel, valves admitting gas to the burner, and a pinion on each valve-stem actuated by the racks on the piston stems or rods, whereby the supply of gas is controlled by the generated pressure in the vessel, substantially as described.

5. The combination of a vessel for containing material to be cooked, two tubes leading from the top of the vessel, a piston in each tube, one piston having a longer travel in op- IOO erating, means for adjusting the pistons and indicating the pressure generated in the passage, a burner supplying heat to the Vessel, Valves admitting a supply of gas to the burner, and means actuated bythe different travel of the respective pistons in the tubes from the generated pressure in the Vessel for successively operating the valve and diminishing and shutting ott the supply of gas to the burner, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a vessel for containing material to be cooked, two tubes leading from the top of the vessel, an opening in each tube, the opening in one tube being located in a higher plane than in the other tube, a piston in each tube controlling the opening of its tube, a stern for each piston, a rack on each stem, a pinion engaging each rack, an indicator for each tube operated by the rack and pinion, a downwardly-leading pipe from each tube-opening, a piston in each of such pipes, a burner below the cooking vessel, valves admitting a supply of gas to the burner, and means actuated by the pistons in the downwardly-leading pipes for operating the Valves and diminishing and shutting off the supply of gas to the burner, substantially as described.

7. The combination of a vessel containing material to be cooked, tubes leading from the top of the vessel, an opening in each tube, the opening in one tube being located in a higher plane than in the other tube, a piston for each tube controlling the opening of the tube, a downwardly-leading pipe from each tubeopening, a piston in each of such pipes, a stem or rod for each piston, a non-adjustable rack on one stem or rod and an adjustable rack on' the other stem or rod, a burner below the cooking Vessel, Valves supplying gas to' the burner, a stem for each valve, and a pinion on each stem engaging one with the nonadjustable rack and the other with the adjustable rack, whereby the supply of gas to the burner is controlled by the generated pressure in the cooking vessel, substantially as described.

WILLIAM F. HERDRICH. ELZEARD G. HETU. Witnesses:

THoMAs F. SHERIDAN, THOMAS B. MCGREGOR. 

